I have seen a lot of really upsetting sentiments, in the past few weeks, that all circle around spirituality. We want to understand things, especially in this time of great uncertainty, but in general, when we are faced with something so unknowable, like death, we struggle to find ways to make the world make sense.
Often this means people trying to assign meaning to an event, even if that meaning is along the lines of "spirit works in mysterious ways." Out of all the different ways of understanding the unknowable, this is probably one of the least upsetting to me. It implies that the divine has a reason for making things happen, including disastrous things, which also implies that the devastation was deliberate. This is the part I have a problem with.
It's not that I feel like divinity can't have reasons for creating destruction, but it's the idea that we are using this as a justification, we are telling people who are going through something horrible that they should be okay with it...because there is some super secret reason behind it, some better purpose that means that their loved one dying or the utter loss of their way of life is somehow beneficial.
This has a side effect of bringing out the 'why me' sentiments. If there was some greater plan, why do I need to be the one to suffer the loss? Why did this person who I love have to be the one to take the hit? And often, these can lead to subtle feelings of unworthiness, where you start to wonder if perhaps there is something wrong with you or you did something wrong, and that is why it happened to you. If you had only been a bit better, a bit more holy, a bit more whatever, then maybe it wouldn't have happened to you.
The worse example of this is the idea that anytime some big disaster happens, it is a punishment. That the sickness that is sweeping the world or the hurricane is happening because we are 'bad' people. What I find particularly despicable about this kind of mentality is it often is accusatory. Not everyone has been bad, but 'you people' (whatever group is being targeted by the ones who are taking a stand at morality) did or did not do things 'right'.
Normally this is followed by examples of what we need to do to be better people, and reminders that we need to start doing these things now, but also continue them in the future to ward off repeat disasters. This can sometimes be a motivating force, it can create better habits in people...but it can also lead to shaming and moral judgement, especially when one group tries to push their own moral agenda onto other people (who may have very different ideas about what is right and wrong).
A sort of deceiving way that this can manifest is when the event itself is seen as somewhat neutral, but we the people somehow have power to entreat the divine (or nature) to 'fix' the problem. This falls into the 'hopes and prayers' category, which I find really distasteful. You see it quite often when people fall ill and you get these weird prayer chain letters asking for people to pray for total strangers. Then what happens if the person doesn't recover? Is it because not enough people prayed for them?
I have seen all of these statements in regards to the pandemic that we are faced with right now, and not only in the greater world but in the Pagan world as well. I've seen people say that the virus was sent to send a message to people about their impact on the earth and nature, and to look at social distancing and how now that people aren't out and about all the time, things like pollution are clearing up and wild animals are returning to populated areas. I've seen people even state that maybe humans are the actual virus (and how messed up is that mentality?).
I have even seen witches be called to cast spells to repel the virus.....because nature wants us to all be healthy and happy, so we just need to go out there and do our witching because Mother Earth doesn't want babies to die!!! (sorry about the crazy in that last sentence, this was one viewpoint I just...I just can't) This particular online discussion turned into a kind of debate between many of the different (and all kind of destructive) mentalities, from "Nature sent this as a way to stop us nasty humans for a bit so she can heal!" to "Nature would never want to kill babies, she is not cruel like that," to "This is all a man-made virus, and people do lab experiments on poor little animals and that is why all this is happening, because we messed around too much with Nature."
Now, I am an animist, I believe that things have spirits, and that the earth herself has a spirit. And, I tend to view non-physical beings in much the same way that I view people...some are good, some are bad, and there is a whole rainbow in between. People have good days and they have bad days, and sometimes we react to things without really thinking.
Here's the thing though. Just because someone has a reason for their action, doesn't mean that I have to accept that reason. If I know someone who thinks that I'm being cruel to my cats because I keep them indoors and don't let them live free....I don't have to let them come into my house and release my cats into the wild. From an animistic point of view, just because nature may feel like we are overstepping our bounds, doesn't mean that I can't fight to protect myself, because I feel my life (and the lives of those I care about) has value.
And I think that assigning human morality to things like natural disasters (from weather to sickness to animal attacks) is a slippery slope. It creates this world view where we need to do things to appease nature so she doesn't smack us down...instead of doing things because we value the earth and all the beings on her.
Our motivation matters, and I really don't like fear based actions. If the only reason you are doing something is because you are afraid of the punishment, then the second you think no one is watching, you stop doing it. That's when you start making excuses like, "It's okay if I dump my trash here on the side of the road, I'm just one person, what difference would it make?"
It also makes it tempting to shift the blame, to tell people that these horrible things are happening because THEY didn't do things the right way. Have you ever noticed that most of the time when the blame is getting shifted around, it's always to other people? Even when it's worded as 'we' or people in general, if you actually read, the person speaking is never taking blame for whatever actions they say is causing things.
The other real danger with making these kind of moral motivations to disasters is they almost always downplay the actual, immediate actions you can take to protect yourself. The people who are shifting blame aren't reminding people to wash their hands and social distance, they are saying we shouldn't do animal testing or drive so many cars. When hurricanes are coming, you shouldn't just pray, you need to also prepare your house (or evacuate)....whatever necessary precautions you need to take to protect yourself and loved ones.
We live in a crazy, chaotic world, and sometimes horrible things happen. Making disasters moral repercussions is dangerous on many levels. It downplays actual, practical advice and actions people can take to protect themselves and limit the damage going forward. It means people are doing things for the wrong reasons, which makes them more likely to not actually do what they should be doing. And it makes people feel like they are somehow at fault, for either doing or not doing something, because someone else is telling them that they were to blame.
Whatever the motivations of nature, when disaster hits, we need to stay focused on what we can do, and not on assigning blame. Look for what you can do, right now, in this moment, to not only keep yourself safe, but to help protect everyone on the planet, because we are all in this together.
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